Teachers and Reformers, Allies and Enemies

Teachers and education reformers have an odd relationship. Teachers frequently attack reformers as though they are their biggest enemies, but they are actually among their biggest allies.

As I have repeatedly stated, the American schooling system is and always has been a complete disaster. There is nothing that can be salvaged from the existing system. It would be far better to completely scrap our schools and build a new educational system from scratch.

Reformers know there are problems with our schools, but they also support the existing model. They are looking for insignificant tweaks that they hope will save the existing system. This could very well be the only way that the status quo model can continue to exist. By contrast, teachers refuse to acknowledge the problems with the system. They want to be able to keep everything entirely the same as always.

In a sense, teachers need reformers. This is because the reformers are doing more to save the system. Teachers want to save this system, but they refuse to do anything about numerous obvious flaws. Reformers aren't even trying to fix these flaws. They're just trying to make it look like surface issues are being addressed.

In the minds of many teachers, all change is bad. The miniscule amount of change being promoted by reformers is more than the absolutely nothing desired by teachers. This is why teachers tend to be so critical of those who are trying to bail them out.

A good example of the overlap is the embrace of the minimum standards approach. The minimum standards approach is the idea that all children, regardless of strengths and passions, must reach the same minimum standards in order to graduate. I have already explained this concept and why I oppose it.

Standards-based reform is all about maintaining dependence on the minimum standards approach. Reformers want to increase the number of students who meet the minimum standards. Teachers agree that more students should meet minimum standards, but their solution is to give teachers more money to do the exact same things that they have already been doing. Standards-based reform can be seen in No Child Left Behind and Common Core. These reform efforts did little more than strengthen what the schools are already doing. Teachers hate these efforts because they are not completely identical to existing efforts.

Teachers treat reformers as their enemies. When it comes to saving their precious status quo model, reformers are actually among their biggest allies. If they hate reformers so much, could you imagine how they would deal with anyone who wants future generations to have a better educational system? How would they view someone like me? Personally, I don't mind being viewed as the enemy of those who care more about protecting our disastrous schooling system than they do about children and their unique educational needs.